A crunchy mama, a geeky papa, a minion, and an -inator

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Alright, lilies may have a use after all. As long as you are very careful with where you grow them. Various parts of day-lilies are used in Chinese cooking, the new shoots, the flowers, and the flower buds. I decided to cook some of the flower buds. I gathered a bunch of them around midday to cook for dinner. After I picked them I put them in cool water (tap water with one ice cube in it) in a coffee mug. Then I left them in a dark and cook place (my kitchen counter away from windows) and left them to The King (that’s a reference to the Elvis mug I used, not another secret identity of a family member).

I prepared the stir-fry with broccoli, bell peppers, onions, snow peas (from my dad’s garden), and the lily buds. But you could use any vegetables you have on hand.

Stir-Fried Day-Lily Buds

About a handful of broccoli, chopped (florets and stalk)

About a handful of bell pepper, chopped

About a Tablespoon onion, chopped

About two handfuls of snow peas (don’t forget to string them)

A coffee mug’s worth of Day-Lily flower buds (see photo above)

Dash paprika

Splash grapeseed oil (could also use any other vegetable oil)

First you detach the flower buds from the stems. You only want to use ones that are between 2 and 4 inches long and have some color to them. Some of the larger ones had a string inside that I pulled out if it came easily. I don’t know if this is necessary, it’s just what I did.

I put a skillet on the stove with some grapeseed oil at medium heat. First I cooked the broccoli and onions for a few minutes. Then I added the bell pepper, snow peas, lily flowers buds, and paprika. You can season any way you want. I cooked everything until tender, stirring regularly. I ended up breaking up the flower buds while cooking them. I think at first glance they look like shrimp.

It tasted good. The flower buds have a very subtle flavor, so don’t expect them to carry the dish. The minion even got to eat one of the flower buds. She seemed to like it, but ended up smearing it with yogurt. Of course she smeared everything with yogurt; her shirt, my shirt, the table, the floor…

I think clearing them out it going to be a larger scale effort than previously thought. There’s a whole are of our side yard that is majorly overgrown and we’d like to be able to use. The hero wants to clear it out and start from scratch. There were some daffodils that we discovered when they bloomed earlier this spring, tons of thick honeysuckle, and apparently lilies. I joked about the fact that we need to go ahead and get goats so they can clear it out and the hero said, “we can rent goats.” Well we need to do something at least about the lilies.

If not made obvious by my writing about the pavlovinator, I love cats. I love all animals, but cats especially. This made the discovery of a bright orange lily growing in our yard kind of disturbing.

Of course it closed before I got a picture.

For those of you who don’t know, all members of the lily family are extremely toxic to cats. The flower is the most toxic but all parts of the plant, including the pollen are also. Ingestion of any part can be fatal to cats. Even a small amount is dangerous. If you know there is lily pollen on your cat, be sure to wash it off thoroughly as the could ingest it when grooming themselves. If you see a cat eating a lily, even just a small amount, take them immediately to a veterinarian. There is effective treatment but only if they are treated within the first 18 hours of ingesting the lily. After that the prospects are more grim.

If you didn’t see them eating it but suspect they might have, take them to a vet. Early symptoms of lily toxicity include vomiting, lethargy, loss of appetite, tremors, and seizures. Kidney failure and death follow if untreated.

Please, help us protect the cats that we so love as part of our families and handle lilies like you would other poisons. After taking this photo I pulled the lily plant and composted it in our compost that is surrounded by chicken wire. We have some outdoor neighborhood cats that I quite enjoy seeing curled up on the rocking chairs on our porch. I would hate for anything to happen to them, or worse, the pavlovinator.

My suggestion is to grow either a pet grass or catnip (depending on how much your cat likes catnip), feed them healthy pet food and the occasional healthy pet treat. Don’t grow lilies or buy floral arrangements including them unless you are 100% sure your cat and other outdoor possibly stray cats cannot get to them. Also consider your disposal, if you compost (and you should) make sure you either toss lilies or compost them somewhere no cats can get to like an enclosed composter.

And because we’re on the subject of cats, spay and neuter all your pets and be sure to adopt from shelters and not animals that were bred at so-called ‘puppy mills’.